Alex Mills - The Union Man

Alex Mills is one of the last great trade union men to represent the miners, their families and communities. For over 50 years he's worked tirelessly for the rights of others as an NUM youth delegate, branch delegate and as secretary of the local retired branch of the retired and redundant miners. A Communist in heart but old Labour in head, his family go back to the very roots of the Labour Party and have been political and union activists for many generations. His great-grandfather George McComb as a lad of 17, chaired a meeting in Dalry with Alexander McDonald, who became the 1st miners MP. George McComb was a miner's agent and delegate of the Kilmarnock branch of the miners union for 11 years at the turn of the last century. Alex grandfather, George McComb, has a street named after him in Auchinleck in recognition of his socialist services. His Uncle Alex was union delegate at Barony Colliery and so was his Uncle Frank. In 1947 just after Nationalization, 15 year old Alex started out working in the pits with his 4 brothers at Highhouse Colliery just a couple of hundred yards from his home in Auchinleck. At 17, he transferred a couple of miles up the road to the Barony Pit where he became involved in the union. Alex was youth delegate at the Barony in the 1950's and quickly moved through the ranks of the NUM until the disaster in 1962 when number 2 shaft collapsed and four men were entombed. Alex was displaced to England where he was sacked from Bagridge Colliery in Staffordshire for being too militant. Coming back up the road to a job at Mauchline Pit, he soon returned to the Barony as delegate. Where for many years he was a thorn in the flesh of the colliery management until the infamous "Loco at the loop" incident when Alex was framed up and fired by a villainous Under-Manager. Although the men and the union fought to get Alex reinstated and the Coal Board offered him a job at Killoch. He was out of work for five years until he got a job at Sorn Mine in 1973 where he remained as branch delegate until he was made redundant when the mine closed in 1983. Alex was loyal to the union during the Miners strike of 1984-85 and witnessed all the major changes in the mining communities following the defeat of the miners and the depression that followed, as the pits and all the factories closed in the late 1980's and early 1990's. In 1996 Alex became secretary of the local retired and redundant NUM, a task that he said was one of the most difficult tasks he had ever undertaken. He began campaigning with the NUM for the rights of ex –miners and their families to fair and proper compensation for the many illnesses and injuries that ex-miners had to endure. In the Vibration White Finger case, Alex took on the might of the state and won ₤23 million pounds for the miners. His involvement with the bronchitis, pneumoconiosis miner's compensation scheme led to significant compensation being paid to the sick miners and families of miners who died from lung disease. Long before the scandal of the lawyers payments were on the news, Alex Mills was highlighting the abhorrent fees that were being charged by the solicitors. For many years he has highlighted the State Robbery of our Miners Pension Fund and has challenged government ministers face to face about the lengthy delays that dying miners faced for a fair and just settlement. But Alex Mills is more than a miner's union man fighting the honest cause. He's a true people's advocate and has represented 100's of sick and disabled people at medical boards and DSS appeals in the west of Scotland and Dumfriesshire. Alex Mills has helped some of the most vulnerable people in our society, advising them of their rights and representing them when nobody else would. His door was never locked and the phone never off the hook as people from all walks of life sought his advice and support which was always free. - I've known Alex Mills for over thirty five years ever since I met him as a boy at the pigeons. He was the union delegate up at Sorn mine and I remember he brought the Barony Colliery to a standstill in 1982, when he turned up at the pit gates with the nurses of Ballochmyle hospital seeking our support for their struggle to get a decent wage; The pit was idle for two days and it triggered a national nurses strike. Alex was heavily involved in the opening of the miners welfare club at the bottom of my street in Catrine and I would also see him up at Catrine Dam watching the Salmon leap. He's one of those characters that you would never forget, everybody knew and you would always have a laugh and joke with; A true worthy. He's no everybody's cup of tea though as he can be belligerent, cantankerous and very stubborn. But I have never met anyone with such a passion for social justice and the rights of the disadvantaged. I never saw much of Alex after the closures and it wasn't until 1997 that I met him again, when he helped me and many others secure decent compensation for our injuries. Since then I'd occasionally bump into Alex now and again as he scurried about on the bus from village to village. Going from appeal to tribunal with his pipe and black briefcase stuffed full of claim forms and appeal papers. In September 2006, we met outside Scunnerfields in Maybole and we talked about an interview for my mining project as I knew he was an active member of the Barony Trust, who were redeveloping the Barony site as a memorial to the men who worked and died there. Over the next three months I spent some time with Alex and recorded his life story and mining memories. On 18th May 2007 three months after I had recorded Alex, he suffered his 1st stroke and three weeks later a 2nd. After a 6 months treatment, rehabilitation and recovery in Crosshouse, Ayr and Irvine Central Hospitals. He is unable to continue to fight the honest cause due to losing his speech and most of his mobility. It was a cruel blow to Alex and his family and a crueller blow to the community whom he represented. Alex got out of hospital in December 2007 and returned to his home in Auchinleck, where he is looked after by his daughter Sandra, his family and a team of dedicated carers. Although he's lost the ability to speak properly; his mind is still as sharp as the picks on a shearer. He has his own language and ways of expressing himself. He understands every word and gives you the thumbs up or down, a shake or nod of the head, a yes or a no. You have to be careful though. Any mention of the miner's pension scheme, the compensation schemes, New Labour or putting him into a home and he gets fairly animated; the blood pressure goes through the roof! The last time I told him about how much the government had taken out the miner's pension scheme he thumped the side of his chair that hard that Mick McGaheys plate nearly fell off the living room wall. He has his good days and bad days but is still hanging on and mentally active. He's got a strong heart and a steady flow of visitors to keep him from wearying . I pop in and to see Alex now and again to give him an update on the project. Alex inspired me to start my mining project as we both thought it was important to preserve not only our mining memories but also our current lives and how the strike and the closures affected our pit communities. He kindly gifted ₤ 100 towards the setting up of the website and has always been fully supportive of my activities. Its been a privilege and an education knowing Alex Mills and I'm proud to call him a friend. He's done a good shift for the miners, the NUM and the Labour Party. I would hope that one day he would be recognised for his long and distinguished service as a true representative of the miners and the mining communities he has so tirelessly fought for.